I have had enough of the 1608

[ChiroVette]

I have done over 100 shows with the Mackie and zero, yes zero, crashes. I think your problem is you. Too much feedback? Figure out how to ring it out. I think you are just here to bash the dl1608. And omg get over the damn mute button thing. There are a lot more important issues. I have never bashed the dl. I have however bashed on Mackie and because of that I am waiting, patiently, to replace the dl with the x32 rack. You must be really shitty at mixing sound, or just really here to bash on the dl, which is also pretty shitty.

Well I haven't yet done a single show with the DL1608, so I can't say anything yet. But this is definitely not a toy. However, that said,  think that Dtg77 is speaking out of sheer frustration and so maybe he is flying off the handle a little? You know what? I've been there and so have most people. It doesn't matter if a billion people have perfect experiences with a mixer or other piece of equipment. All it takes is for ME to have that one horrible show and WHAMMO the unit sucks! lol is it fair? Perhaps not, but like I have said, we've all been there.

On the subject of feedback, I am having an issue maybe you guys can answer for me. I hooked up my brand new PA: JBL PRX612m tops over PRX618XLF subs and an extra ELX112p monitor, all hooked up to one vocal mic just as a test. Now whenever I turned up the system volume or the aux volume I am getting tons of feedback all over the sonic spectrum! I don't ever remember having this much FB with my old JBL MR835/MR805 system powered by an old Crown Powerbase 2 and a Folio Rack Pack.

I am REALLY HOPING that the reason I was getting all this feedback was because I was in a basement with very low ceilings. But....wowser! As for ringing out the system, I am having a helluva time getting used to the touch screen graphic EQ. Even double sized I am having a lot of trouble engaging the EQ fader blips sometimes. I have to get used to it, I guess, and I REALLY HOPE that my new system doesn't start screaming and whining at me at my next gig where I wil be using all this gear for the first time lol.

I can tell that for me at least, ringing out a system on the iPad is NOT going to be easy! Is this a problem endemic to the 1608, lots of feedback I mean?

[jlb]

Where are your gains set to on your speakers and vocal mic inputs? Are you peaking around 0 db on the meters? For only the weakest vocals will I go much past 12 o'clock on the input trims.

I normally run a combo of 6-10 k12's, PRX 612's, SRX 712's for monitors. Very rarely if ever have to ring out and can peel the skin off ones face with volume. So no it's not a DL issue.

[ChiroVette]

Where are your gains set to on your speakers and vocal mic inputs? Are you peaking around 0 db on the meters? For only the weakest vocals will I go much past 12 o'clock on the input trims.

I will take a look at that next time I boot it up, but I can tell you that the I never clipped the input trims.

[jlb]

Keep an eye on your input meters. The only inputs that break into the yellow maybe 1db on peaks is a kick drum or snare hit. I try to keep the vocals, so even an unexpected primordial scream reaches 0db. Keep it in the green!

[jlb]

Keep an eye on your input meters. The only inputs that break into the yellow maybe 1db on peaks is a kick drum or snare hit. I try to keep the vocals, so even an unexpected primordial scream reaches 0db. Keep it in the green!

I have posted many vids on  my Y tube  page showing the use of the DL in a live band situation. At some point in each vid I take a shot of the I Pad. You will notice that most if not all channels stay in the green.

[ChiroVette]

+1 I will watch a shitload of your vids tomorrow. I need aaaaaaall the help I can get.

Meanwhile, I have to learn how to identify frequencies by ear. My problem is I hear some FB and nine times out of ten I fumble around trying to "find" the offending band. I am a musician, not a sound man, so I have a lot to learn. lol

[jlb]

 I see too often, people cranking input gains resulting in  a cumulative mess of noise. They then proceed to hack the hell out of the monitors with EQ. I can't even remember the last time I used a graphic on my monitor mixes. Good gain structure is where you want to start.

[RoadRanger]

Start with the EQ on the vocal mics flat and the compression off.

[Kevin]

Meanwhile, I have to learn how to identify frequencies by ear.

Get yourself an RTA app that you can run on your iPad. There are a couple of good free ones.

I like AKLite.  It has a nice FFT that shows the value of the loudest frequency. It doesnt have enough low frequency resolution to be useful for EQ'ing a room but there is more than enough mid and high resolution to be useful for ringing monitors and tamping down hot spots in mics.   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aklite/id423519680   

The JL audio RTA is also nice. It has a regular RTA display and is a bit more accurate than AKLite for low frequencies.
https://itunes.apple.com/ke/app/jl-audio-tools/id388648626

Both of these apps will use the internal mic on the iPad, or an iPhone if you have one. You can also get an attenuator cable so that you can run the solo out of your DL into the mic input if the iPhone/iPad. This is very useful in a live situation when you can hear something starting to ring, but not sure what input it is on. http://www.kvconnection.com/product-p/km-iphone-mic42-a22.htm

I havent found the DL board to cause any feedback issues, although it took me a while to figure out how to get to the solo bus (which is only on the phones out with the DL, hence the attenuator).

When getting new monitors or mains components, I find its helpful to run pink noise to help set the EQ. For the monitors, I usually start by getting everything flat, then roll the low end for everyone but the drummer, and bump the 1-2K a little for the vocal mons. That gives you a decent starting point before you start ringing out for the mics. You only need to do this once or if you replace a driver. For mains, the pink noise will help you make sure that your crossover settings are right for your amps and boxes (only need to do this when you change a component), and identify room resonances (which is useful any time you are in a new room). Then play some recorded music that you know well, to make final EQ settings, so that everything sounds good in the room and vocals sound good in the monitors.

I too found the DL incredibly frustrating at first. Its half mixer and half computer, which takes some getting used to. The first weekend I wanted to smash it. Fortunately, I had a couple of weeks before I needed to use it live. Now there are a lot of things that I wish Mackie would change but no way would I want to go back to my old board and snake and 100lb outboard rack.

[Trshot]

Jlb

Not sure what your videos are about,you should post a link to them.  If they are useful RR may want to add them to this forum.....

[Jerrylee]

To the op: You had 2 iPads going and one crashed but you didn't bother checking the other one right away. Hmmm? And then you decided to log in here to bash the dl? I call shenanigans.

[Dtg77]

Jlb , what's your you tube page ?

Frustration, yes but not from just one gig.

[Duvalle]

I've done several shows since i've bought the DL1608 last year... for me it was a giant leap!
very good, very stable... 4 stars! Idon't put on the fifth star just because it lacks the app updates that we all want, nevertheless it is a very good mixer!!!

Never had let me down, and i guess the crash was on your iPad and not the mixer... the good thing is that even if your iPad crashes the mixer still works, obviously with the channel selection that you had.

For me... ok!

[ChiroVette]

Meanwhile, I have to learn how to identify frequencies by ear.

Get yourself an RTA app that you can run on your iPad. There are a couple of good free ones.

I will definitely investigate this, but I have a question: Wouldn't I be better served getting this app on my android phone instead? Because the iPad doesn't easily multitask, and if I get feedback and have to start toggling between the RTA app and the Master Fader app, won't it take me way longer to find, identify, and cut the offending frequencies than if I have Master Fader opened on my iPad in the room we are playing in and the RTA app on my phone?

I will definitely try your other suggestions too, thanks!

[Jerrylee]

Robbo I truly can't wait to dump this pos board. But it still works great. Just no longer a fan of the company or the lack of development they are putting into updates. Although I did say pos board, I did state that pos was referring more to the company. Again please, please, please keep defending this board and company. I hope you keep it for years. One day you will realize it has serious limitations. But then, again, please keep it and be left in the shadows of the board around it.

Saying it has limitations is not bashing it. It's just informative to those who may want to know what limitations it has. The limitations of this board are also company based issues. There was not much forward thinking involved. There are basic things the dl will never be able to do that most competitors can. The dsp inside the board is not going to be able to handle the user requests that they are getting. If I developed a board, knowing how fast things evolve, and knowing people always want more, I would put a dsp chip in 10x bigger than needed. Or more. This way I would be able to add features to future proof the board.

If mackie was a forward thinking company then the 802 would not exist. What kind of conversations took place to come up with that idea? Pure friken genius. "Hey guys, how about we make a great new product by just taking what we already have and remove 8 inputs and 2 outputs! And let's reduce the price by only a little bit." I am so glad that this great company took such a huge leap forward...um...backwards. How many people have asked mackie for a larger dl? Answer: a lot. On mackies own web site, and in the dls owner manual, they describe how to use two dls to get 24 channels. (That was stretching it mackie). Obviously they knew going into things people wanted a bigger board. So the genius development team decided a smaller board was the way to go.

Oh please, oh please, oh please behringer hurry up. I need that x32 rack. Everything I need and more is inside there. Mackie has taught me quickly what I really need, and you have everything I/we have been asking them for. Thank you so much for reading their forums. I am glad that almost every major issue people have with the dl, and almost every feature request that has been made, you have addressed. Way to go!